Premier to reveal when Tassie will open borders to NSW
No coronavirus cases have been imported so far as hundreds of interstate travellers from COVID-safe jurisdictions pour into the state, as a date is set for when borders will open to NSW.
Tasmania
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TRAVELLERS from New South Wales will be able to enter Tasmania without quarantine from November 6.
Premier Peter Gutwein made the announcement today after hundreds of travellers poured into the state with no cases recorded.
Mr Gutwein noted the lack of social distancing upon families and friends reuniting yesterday as 600 people arrived via seven flights, and a further 80 cars arrived this morning on the Spirit of Tasmania.
“Our processes and systems held up well – in fact they performed exactly as we hoped they would … I can confirm no one was referred for a test,” he said.
Watch the announcement live below.
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Public Health’s intentions were to allow travellers from NSW into the state without quarantine by the first week of November.
“We’ve looked at the opportunity for this to occur and I am pleased to announce it is our intention to classify NSW as a low-risk area effective from Friday, November 6,” he said.
There have been no changes to reopening to Victoria, which is still slated for December 1, dependant on Public Health advice.
Director of Public Health Dr Mark Veitch has given a benchmark of declassifying areas as medium or high risk.
Areas with less than five cases with an unknown origin within the last 28 days will be declassified and despite Victoria’s low number of cases he lamented borders will not open before December 1.
“We may be in a position to let Victorians home quarantine in Tasmania, but it’s a little way off yet,” he said.
Tasmania’s new traveller system Tas e-Travel is live and now accepting registrations for travel from low-risk areas under eased border restrictions.
As of Monday, October 26, borders have reopened the low-risk areas of Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and New Zealand.
Travellers who have only spent time in these areas in the 14 days prior to arriving in Tasmania will not be required to quarantine.
From Monday, people who have only been in these low-risk areas can register their details and answer questions about where they will have spent time before arriving in Tasmania, to receive a Tas e-Travel QR code.
This can be done online, no more than three days before they arrive.
Originally published as Premier to reveal when Tassie will open borders to NSW